


Bleeding Hearts Bleed Together

by joufancyhuh



Series: Starkhaven's Finest [15]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, NonInquisitor Trevelyan, Secure A Source of Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 14:59:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18758773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joufancyhuh/pseuds/joufancyhuh
Summary: Rylen gets hurt when relocating the varghests. Trevelyan patches him up.





	Bleeding Hearts Bleed Together

“She did this out of spite, you know.” 

Evelyn paused in her work to let out a loud snort, her good humor echoed in chuckles by the few soldiers who busied themselves around the evening campfire. They mostly minded their business, the best pseudo-privacy offered when on missions, but that didn’t stop any overheard conversation pieces. Laughter infected, and though it reminded that the two weren’t alone, a smile curled the sharp corners of her lips. 

Only one of the older soldiers, James, kept his eyes on the Knight Captain and the Lieutenant, though when Evelyn’s eyes met his over the flames, he spun his attention away to the ground on the right of him. If Rylen caught the exchange, he gave no indication, wiggling under Evelyn’s tight grasp of his arm. 

“Who, the varghest who caught you?” Her nails dug into his tricep as she wiped away blood and dirt from the large claw marks that scarred his upper arm. The rag, reeking of cheap alcohol she used for disinfectant, stained, but it finally looked as though the blood flow slowed enough to let her bandage it. 

Rylen clenched his jaw, a low hiss in his throat as he shifted away from the cloth to help lessen the burn. Her nails imprinted half-moons, biting into his skin as she tried her best to keep him still and in place. “No, the Inquisitor.  _ Move the varghests  _ my ass. She doesn't care a blasted bit about the damn things.”

With a roll of her eyes, Evelyn let go to dig around in the medical pack to find the gauze and bandages. “She’s a complicated person. Maybe she does actually care about them. I know I do.” When she lifted her head, gauze in hand, Rylen’s bright blue eyes stared at her, face scrunched tight with comical disbelief. “What? We stole their habitat. How can we be mad that they decided to retaliate?” 

He answered with his own roll of the eyes, accompanied by an exasperated sigh. She said as much when he complained about the orders. “You’re a bleeding heart, you are, lass. Sometimes, I think you’re more trouble than you’re worth.” But all feigned tension released as a grin drew across his lips, and he leaned over to appease her with a quick kiss. 

Her retort to his accusations died before it hit her lips, given the audience to their conversation. Instead, her hand cupped the back of his neck before he pulled completely away, her fingers ruffling the small tufts of curls that grew out from his last haircut. Rylen wouldn’t want those under his command to know how much his heart bleed for those around him, Inquisition soldiers or the ex-templars they fought. 

Prime example of Rylen’s selflessness sat across from them, guilt awash on his features as his eyes returned to watch them. Rylen gave away the last potion to James without a second thought to himself, a trait Evelyn both admired and despised in her partner. No sense of self preservation, which lead to him gathering scars like stories, throwing himself into danger with little debate. She worried, of course she worried, now more than when they had their separate assignments, because now she witnessed it firsthand, it wasn’t just some story he told her whenever they got the chance to catch up. 

But that was Rylen. Anyone who spent time around him saw how deeply he cared for people, even when he pretended otherwise. She nudged her nose into his before gifting herself another kiss, a soft lingering in it before she pulled back to finish bandaging him up. 

The rangers left with the varghests, with a promise to return in a week. No fatalities, even if some of them ended up hurt. Not bad for one of their missions. She tied off the bandage then checked over her work for errors. None of her skill sets included field medic, but no one else volunteered to do it. “It’ll have to hold until we get back to the Keep tomorrow.” 

Rylen rolled his shoulder, checking range of motion in case he needed to fight at some point. Picking up a sword would be the bigger of the challenges until one of the Keep mages got the chance to fix it. But as Evelyn cleaned up the area around them of medical supplies, his attention returned to her. Around them, soldiers yawned and ambled off to their tents, the show of fixing the Knight Captain over. Two of them took their posts as lookouts for the night, and at least they no longer had to worry about a varghest attack, though everything else in this desert still threatened to kill them. 

When Evelyn stood, he rose with her, careful not to use his arm to push himself to his feet. “Bed?” She asked this with a stifled yawn, her job of patching him up finished, her muscles yearning for rest from the strain of the hard fight of the day. Her other job, the one that saddled her to his side, of being his partner, that one she wanted to execute in earnest -- to settle into their bedroll and wrap him in her arms, thanking the Maker for granting her another night with him. 

“Sounds good,” he replied with a repeat of her yawn, hand rising up to cover his stretched mouth. 

Her fingers weaved between his as she led him off to their sanctuary. She may prefer animals, but she preferred Rylen most of all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Rylen was right though. The Inquisitor was just being difficult. 
> 
> Constructive criticism welcome.


End file.
